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THE HIT LIST - March 21, 2016

I think at some point I may have to give myself an actual weekend to rest and relax. That may mean having to sacrifice a Hit List sometime one of these weeks, but considering all the material that arose in the past week, I couldn't let this one slide.

Alas, welcome back to another installation of The Hit List featuring some of the latest and best in action performance from today's inspired film actionistas. The first round is always the most fun, and that pertains to some meaty stunt reels now available this week with the first reel via Vimeo with an exhilarating stunt and fight choreography reel by Manu Lanzi. The playlist beneath continues things onward starting with Daryl Prachett with one of four new reels this month on his channel, along with reels from Laurie Singer, Paul Hampshire, Nikki Brower, Darin Hicks and Tyler Buckingham, followed by a new reel from The 100 and Banshee co-star Joseph Gatt, freerunner and stuntman Alex Tucker, and a reel hailing from Indonesia's own Deswyn Pesik.

Now it's off to the promotional bits, and first project now online in the form of a four-minute proof of concept short for the sci-fi action thriller, Arene. The project has been eight-months in the making over at 3D College in Denmark with director Henrik B. Claussen at the helm and with actress Katarina Strahinic spearheading the story of a woman who finds herself aboard a military chopper only to be in danger when her unbeknownst identity is confirmed.

If you asked me, l would love it if this were greenlit for a film or a TV series, and the effort alone put behind this little gem with only four minutes in ought to garner so much as a worthy discussion with the right people. Also starring are David Masterson, David Cheung, Isky Fay, with principle stunts by Lauren Okadigbo and choreography by Jacob Sebastian Malm.

Four more promotional gems are available just beneath Arene with the first taking you behind the scenes of last week's premiere episode of Street Fighter: Resurrection. Speculation swirled for a time around who actress Amy Johnston would play while it appears she's found herself a small role as one of Ken Masters's students, and she performs his teachings well much to our delight. You can read my review of Episode One HERE while Johnston herself managed to capture some of the action behind the camera on set with actor and franchise co-creator Christian Howard getting in a little screentime of his own.

The second in the trailer playlist samples footage from Distinctive Light's forthcoming action short, Money Is The Pleasure - an action-packed drama that sees a financially deprived family whose attempt at thriving on a life of crime without casualties go belly-up when one of their own gets greedy. Film duo and co-stars, director Felix Betancourt and producer Yadi Nieves got my attention earlier this year with a seperate action short called Breaking In, and so clearly I'm inclined to pay a bit more attention to them, and you can do so as well by following their progress on the official Facebook page for the Distinctive Light banner.

The last entry is a teaser clip from Jyo Carolino's upcoming indie action short, I Am Spartan with a full fight scene that initally premiered at MidSouthCon in Tennessee last week. The shortfilm, in whole will premiere on April 27, starring Carolino as a traumatized soldier forced to fight a new war at home in order to redeem himself. Jai Tanghal, and Drew Russom are also featured in the clip.

Enjoy the selections below!

And we're off with the fights this week as we inch closer to the finish of the Hit List with a slew of test fights worthy of your attention, and the first two come courtesy of Robot Underdog and the RackaRacka with their own fan films attributed to Capcom's "Street Fighter V" and the promotion of Machinima's Street Fighter: Resurrection. Rounding out the playlist are a new minute long group action clip by Ronin's Action and Rated X Stunts, two new test fights by filmmaker Andrew Kim with Angela Jordan, Matt Barracliff and Gee Jay, Leroy Nguyen and Edmond Shum of Rising Tiger Films, and Sandra Parfait and Lucas Bernardi from French stunt academy, Campus Univers Cascades, along with German martial arts action cinema favorite Mike Moeller experimenting in pre-viz choreography for a new reel of his own as is indie actioner Darren Holmquist via Dardrex Productions.

At long last, it's time to make some minimovies out of these talents! Cinematic Fight Studio starts things up for this final leg of the playlist with Jarrod Decroce in Sifu Round Eye, along with EMC Monkey's own Tony Sre in a case of severe Sidewalk Rage, Facebook Post with Felix Betancourt and raging actress Yadi Nieves in a hilarious short of their own, followed by two new fan films from Ampisound and Jeff Centauri's in the wake odmf the season two premiere of Marvel's Daredevil on Netflix series, and an original mystery action short titled Raterino from directing duo Hans Florentino and Pantit Pablo.

The last two complete the playlist with director, writer and producer Jack Heller's latest, Dead@17: Rebirth,an adaptation of Josh Howard's 2014 Image Comics publication (formerly Viper Comics) and starring Lucy Freyer and CC Weske in a story of a teenager caught in the war between good and evil amid the mysterious reawakening of her deceased best friend, Nara, now leading the fight to save the world from a demonic apocalypse. Heller's is the first installation of the POPBOOM Presents series this week, dedicated to inspired adaptations of various comic book properties in short form, and it looks like they're off to a great start! (Shout out to Film Combat Syndicate reader Mehmet Čihad for the tip!)

The final entry is of my own choosing, courtesy of Lunar Stunts with Eat. Pray. Ninja., an award-winning piece I happily wrote about back in 2014. Caroline Ward leads the comedic affair in the story of a screenwriter forced to make certain changes to her script, and needless to say, that's where the antics come in with Irvin Nguyen and Mickey Arce commencing the ninja craziness. I'm resurrecting it because like many of director Eric Nguyen's shorts, this one is worth an audience all the same.

Press play below and enjoy!

If you're new to the Hit List then greetings! Endulge and check out last week's entries if you missed them, and feel free to subscribe to this week's channels as well. And as always, if you yourself are a daring filmmaker or stunt performer with a reel or movie of your own, take a chance and hit us up at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!

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